The challenge is simple.
When someone does something wrong; like the barista at Starbucks forgetting to hold the whipped cream or someone rear-ending your car, ask yourself, could I have made the same mistake? If honesty is our policy, the answer in most every situation is yes.
So why do we shun people with harsh language, isolating behaviors, rejection and shame when they make a mistake? Because someone must be punished! Because the double standard for everything in life says that human fallibility applies to everyone but me.
With this as a guiding principle, life mottos have a tendency to look something like this:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that I am perfect and you are not.
Ergo, it’s OK to punish your mistakes and not mine.
But are you really perfect?
In Whack-a-Mole, David Marx challenges this entrenched system and offers an uncomfortable alternative—that we’re human, we will make mistakes, and we will hurt each other.
Convinced that yesterday’s answer for tomorrow’s mistake doesn’t allow us to learn today, Marx presents a more complex yet hopeful view of human fallibility. Though we’ll inevitably hurt one another, the upside is that we can significantly reduce the odds.